Power and water utilities City Power, Johannesburg Water and Rand Water have advised that an emergency power outage will be implemented at the Eikenhof substation from 08:00 to 16:00 on November 17 and that it will impact on the supply of water in parts of Johannesburg.

The outage is necessary for City Power to make urgent repairs to, and conduct maintenance at, the substation, where a recent assessment found defects, including hot connections on the two transformers that supply power to Rand Water. 

The Eikenhof substation powers Rand Water's Eikenhof pumping station, which, in turn, supplies some of Johannesburg Water's reservoirs and provides water to residents across Johannesburg.

As a result of the emergency work, Rand Water will experience a significant impact on its pumping capacity. This, in turn, will impact on a number of Johannesburg Water's systems, including in Soweto, Randburg and Roodepoort, Commando (Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill), Lenasia and parts of Johannesburg Central, including the Eagles Nest, Crown Gardens, Aeroton and Alan Manor reservoirs.

Rand Water and Johannesburg Water urge residents to store sufficient water ahead of the outage.

"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this maintenance project may cause to our communities. Rand Water and Johannesburg Water are committed to providing a consistent and reliable water supply, and contingency measures have been made to ensure minimal interruptions.

"This emergency work is pivotal in ensuring that the electricity infrastructure remains robust and effective," the utilities comment in a joint statement.